August 19, 2012

coming soon to fort worth...

we are getting are own urban outfitters. 


sometimes, i like their design. 

how can i do this with cinder blocks around my house?

packing...


i'm getting ready to pack up for a trip to new york/new jersey. our niece is getting married in new york. i am so excited about that. i love weddings even though i never know what to wear for a wedding. i always want to wear something floaty and romantic, but i am not the floaty, romantic type when it comes to clothes. my uniform is a hane's undershirt and a pair of shorts or if i'm dressing up: a hane's undershirt with a skirt. summer in texas is not conducive to wearing things that need to be dry cleaned nor wearing expensive items because i will have to throw them away after the season. the sweat stained armpits are permanent.

but this is not what i'm writing about today.

the subject, today, is that the hardest thing to do is to pack for a trip. i overpack especially if it's a company trip and i have to look decent, or, i underpack since i think i can wear the same thing twice which is sure way of making sure that i spill something on what i was planning to wear more than once. it's like the time we went to italy and i wore my one pair of jeans on the plane and son jason spilled my coke all over them. i didn't blame son jason...after all, he was 2 or 3 years old at the time. i, actually, felt like it was my fault because i should have known better than to have just one pair of jeans for a 3 week trip...my jeans could stand on their own after the trip (stiff from stains).

goop just did a post on packing. she (gwyneth) wrote a very informative article on what to pick for a work trip, city break and the beach holiday trip. of course, i cannot afford buy a victoria beckman duffel bag to use as a carry on or a lanvin suitcase as my check in bag, or the lanvin shoes or the stella mccartney jeans (although if i were to wear the jeans on the plane and they were my only pair...), but, she does give better ideas than packing a cashmere pashmina thing to keep you warm on the plane. also, the clothes she suggests would look better on someone shaped more like gyneth paltrow.

then, there was an article in the wsj on saturday about packing light and trying to pare it down to the fab five. i liked this article because she, too, either overpacks or brings all the wrong stuff. AND, like me, she doesn't really like to wear, again, what she wears on the plane, not because she has spilled stuff on them, but because the clothes "smell like fuel and they don't feel clean". i know exactly what she is talking about! my clothes after an airplane trip just feel grimy... kinda' like you have been traveling in the 1800's and the city soot has settled all over them. i'm always surprised that my hane's undershirt is still white when i take it off after being on the airplane...and not grey.

her fab five start with a pair of cropped dries van noten pants...okay, again, i do not own any dries van noten.

sigh.

yesterday, i also got in the mail a clothes catalog from some company that specializes in travel clothing.

the photo on the left is one of the many examples of clothes i could buy from this company for travel.

and...they are perfect for mixing and matching!






seriously?!!
i'm old, yes, but really?!!






luckily, j crew mailed their new fall catalog, too.


so, if you were wondering about the photo way at the top?

i'm packing: 1. a pair of cropped pants from banana republic several seasons ago (does that make them vintage?), 2. a new pair of j crew shorts and a pair of j crew shorts from way way back (again, vintage), 3. a silk skirt from j crew i bought on sale last year, 4. a casual dress from anthropologie that i had the hem lowered since it was a leetle bit too short when i sat down, and 5. a navy and white striped dress from banana republic to wear at the wedding. i also branched out and am packing two non-white tops: an old sleeveless top from anthropologie and a new anthropologie owl shirt, which i have already worn once and love. i will pack a few cardigans because sleeveless is not always a good look for me and a few white shirts, too.

and of course 3 or 4 hane's undershirts.

when i get back, i will post photos of the trip.

August 08, 2012

is it hot enough for ya'?


one thing you can always rely on here in texas is that the month of august is going to be hot...way too hot. it zaps your energy and all you can think about is turning up the air conditioner, turn on the ceiling fans and laying on the sofa, dreaming about when you were cooler and trying not to move very much except to shift on your side when your back gets too hot while laying on the sofa.

this is the time where i go back and reflect on the fun times i had in the very hot seattle this july. it was sooooooo hot there...all the seattle folk were complaining. i mean, seriously, it was 80 degrees outside!

i loved seattle. i wish it was that hot here. since the first of the month our lowest high has been 102. we get excited if it only hits 99.

here are a few pics of seattle this last july...
on the way to san juan islands. how would you like to drive down the highway and see this out your window?












above is a pic of nesting cormorant on the ferry dock










husband scott, catching up with the wall street journal and giving me his best fake smile.
 outside the earthbox inn & spa. we didn't spa...not enough time.
 we went to duck soup inn for dinner. i highly recommend this place. and this tomato ginger soup was the best i have ever, ever had. we also had bread with anchovy pate which doesn't photo as delicious as it was.

here is my entree of scallops with english peas and a sweet pea flower on top.
 we had to get a dessert which was dandelion root ice cream with butterscotch sauce, toasted almonds & sea salt. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... d double licious.
the next day we went out on a boat to find orcas. please note that i have on a sweater AND a rain jacket on because it was soooooo hot.

found lots of orcas and with my expert photographic skills, i snapped lots of pictures that look just like this...

seriously, i cannot capture moving objects.











this is the best i could do. you should have seen the photos everyone else had. their blogs are going to be way more interesting.













and that's the san juan islands. we were there for 24 hours and then off we went to mt rainier park. more on that...tomorrow.

oh and speaking of hot. when i was young and carefree and had no concerns about skin damage nor skin cancer, i would lay out on our driveway and work on my tan. i would go out every day of the summer.

my dad believes that the ideal outside temperature should never be above 60 degrees. he hates the heat and, yet, he would mow our yard every week because he had to. seeing me out there, choosing to go out (not having to be out there) would drive him crazy mad.

one day, while tanning, my dad was out there, sweating profusely, mowing the lawn. he couldn't stand that i was out there, for fun. he finally came over, dripping on me, and said, "is it hot enough for ya?".

yes, dad, it is hot enough for me...too hot.